by Kirby Lindsay, posted 18 November 2011
In December, with your help, the 75 most disadvantaged members of theWallingford Boys & Girls Club(WB&G) can experience a much more joyous holiday than they currently expect. The Giving Tree, installed at University Village immediately after Thanksgiving until December 20th, will include tags with requests from our kids, from our own Boys & Girls Club.
Throughout the year, the WB&G – or Wally Boys, as its sometimes nicknamed – serves the youth of Wallingford, Green Lake, Meridian, University District, Fremont, etc. “We essentially serve Northeast Seattle,” explained Meghan Sweet, Club Director. Yet, too often those without kids, or simply unaware, let the name of the Club become a geographic limitation.
This Club serves all children (and teens) of our area who need a safe place to play, get help with homework and/or learn leadership skills. One way to understand the breadth of the area our Club serves is through their licensed child care programs. In addition to the main facility, on 45th Street near Stone Way, WB&G provides child care before and after school at B.F. Day Elementary, View Ridge/Sacajawea, Daniel Bagley, and Olympic Hills schools.
A Staff That Cares
“I love this club!,” proclaimedSweet, with genuine enthusiasm. She arrived at the Club two days after graduating from Seattle University, and 12 years and three directors (Ann Espo, Jamie Flaxman and Nita Smith) later, she assumed the leadership role in February 2011. Her promotion isn’t about accolades, however, but hard work, as she has continued to work as Associate Executive Director, just as before, but now also sees to the tasks of Executive Branch Director.
Sweet learned while working with the previous Directors, and she praises their contributions, but she also admitted, “I’m doing it my own way.” One way is keeping the door to her office, located off the game room and near the main entrance, open. “I like to stay in touch,” she explained.
“Our focus is on building long-term relationships with the kids,” Sweet explained. She knows the kids of the Club, and they know the staff – many of whom have worked there for many years. Sweet proudly gave the example of Senior Programs Director Adam Monda, who has worked with Wally Boys since January 1995.
Retaining quality staffers makes it easier for kids to form attachments that provide a safety net in a crisis, and lifeline for a lifetime. Also, as Sweet observed, “you are not working here for the money, you are passionate about helping the kids.” That affection, and the bond it creates, has led some ‘kids’ to return, as volunteers, when they reach adulthood. “I think that is unique to Wallingford,” she admitted.
A Program Done Well
“In a perfect world, we could do everything,” Sweet mused. She has kept this Club priority on the free programs – offering tutoring, snacks and mentoring for area kids. “I don’t know what our parents would do without our program,” Sweet observed, and the safe place it offers kids for after school and during vacation days. “My goal is to be service-oriented,” she said, “I have kids, I know what it takes to provide something very, very useful.”
While some Clubs charge a nominal fee for programs, Sweet has resisted putting that in place here. She wants a Club accessible for all, including new immigrants and low income families. “I like to think the Club puts a little justice back in the world,” she observed, “Everyone here is equal.” Wallingford also doesn’t provide a huge schedule of athletic programs, she admitted, but the Ballard Boys & Girls Club does, and “it’s really close, and they do it very well.”
“I think the character development we do is so important,” Sweet explained, “we’re able to integrate that into everything.” In September 2011, according to Sweet, the Club served an average of 521 youths a day. The staff tutor the kids, and work as closely as they can with the schools. They encourage the kids to graduate, she stated, “and go to college, if that is their thing.” Plus, programs like Smart Girls and Keystone offer direct, clear goals for youth who want more leadership skills.
“Our kids are pretty tight,” Sweet admitted, and “we tell them they have a responsibility to look after one another.” That includes the teens, a program Sweet is pleased to say has recently expanded. Of course, she quickly credits her staff. “We have a really good Teen Director,” she explained of Augustine Williams, “he’s like a Pied Piper.”
In A Community That Cares?
“I think we’re a really integral part of the community we serve,” she said, “we’re really neighborhoody.” As the holidays arrive, the community can serve as well – by going to University Village and taking a tag. Even with 75 tags, she admitted, “we’re not going to quite cover all the families we need to support.”
“For absolute certainty,” Sweet explained, “we’ve gotten more requests for help in the last year. More of our kids are housing unstable,” she described, and lacking in health care.“We’re not a support agency,” she allowed, but the Club does work as a safety net for hundreds of youth, of all incomes and backgrounds.
In past years, in addition to the Giving Tree, neighbors have stepped forward in larger ways. “Businesses will step up and want to sponsor a family, top to bottom,” Sweet explained with gratitude, and in 2010, local businesses sponsored 15 of the most desperate WB&G families.
Those businesses, large groups or families that want to learn what it takes to sponsor a family, can contact the Club’s Administrative Assistant, Jennifer Crispino at jcrispino@positiveplace.org.
For those who want to find out more about the Club, and what it might be able to offer their children, visit the website or e-mail Wallingford@positiveplace.org Kids will be welcomed at Wallingford Boys & Girls, and Sweet explained, from the start, “what unifies them all is that they’re Club members!”
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